The following text is adapted from the introduction to LIFE’s new special issue The Smurfs, available at newsstands and online.
In 2011, people around the world donned white caps and pants and painted their faces (and in some cases entire bodies) blue in celebration of the Smurfs. Dozens of Smurf figurines appeared in the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The small Spanish town of Júzcar was painted blue and filled with Smurf-themed murals and statues. And in New York, a giant inflatable Smurf made its way around the city, appearing in Central Park and South Street Seaport. By the end of the day, the event, dubbed Global Smurfs Day, broke the world record for “Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Smurfs Within a 24-hour Period in Multiple Venues,” with nearly 5,000 people participating.
This happened more than 20 years after the heyday of the television show and more than 50 years after the Smurfs first appeared in a Belgian comic series about the adventures of a medieval pageboy and his jester sidekick. The word “Smurf” has been translated into 55 languages, and the brand has a 95 percent global awareness.
The Smurfs are ubiquitous—you can find their faces on everything from keychains to billboards around the world—and they have attracted some pretty big star power through the years. The 2025 animated musical film Smurfs will star Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman and James Corden, and the soundtrack will feature original songs by global pop superstar Rihanna, who is also playing Smurfette. “I hope this gives me a little bit of cool points with my kids one day,” she joked at CinemaCon 2023, when she announced her role in the movie.
Designed by Belgian comic writer and artist Pierre Culliford—better known by his nickname Peyo—the Smurfs first appeared in Peyo’s comic series Johan et Pirlouit (Johan and Peewit in English). In a 1958 story called “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute,” the series’ titular characters track down the creators of a magic flute: 100 tiny blue gnomes who live in an idyllic forest village.
Readers instantly fell in love. From their bright-blue skin to their delightful adventures and straightforward personalities (Hefty is strong, Brainy is smart, and so on), the Smurfs had an appeal that proved timeless. Since their debut, the Smurfs have appeared in more than 50 comic volumes, 256 episodes of the NBC animated show, three (soon to be four) feature films, more than 100 episodes of a reboot show, and on thousands of pieces of merchandise. So what’s so special about these tiny blue creatures?
Walt Disney was Peyo’s biggest inspiration. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was one of the only American movies that he was able to see while living in Nazi-occupied Belgium, so it’s no surprise that Peyo’s Smurfs seem akin to Disney’s dwarfs. According to animator Philippe Capart in the documentary From the World of Peyo to Planet Smurf, Peyo adopted Disney’s style of creating round characters: “To draw a Smurf, you almost only need curves. There are no angles at all, so we have something really round and friendly.”
The Smurfs’ most distinguishing feature, their color, also charmed fans. The hue was actually selected by Peyo’s wife, Nine, who served as his colorist. After ruling out other colors, like red, because it would look angry, or green, because it would blend into the foliage, Nine settled on blue. Largely associated with positive feelings like calmness, trustworthiness, and stability, blue is a beloved color worldwide. It is the most popular favorite color for both men and women, and studies have found that it can have physiological effects like lowering heart rate. Blue is also widely accepted globally and considered positive in most cultures. These days, many children’s characters are blue (think Blue from Blue’s Clues, Stitch, Bluey, and Sully), but Peyo led the charge, creating a creature that is inviting and adorable to children (both boys and girls) and also adults.
The Smurf visage is so popular that even if you’ve never seen a minute of The Smurfs or read a single page of the comic, you recognize them. This is in part thanks to the robust collectibles market that sprang up almost immediately after their debut when a popular cereal brand began putting Smurf figurines in its boxes.
Indeed, toy versions of the Smurfs made their way stateside long before the comic or the TV show, and American television executive Fred Silverman was inspired to create the Smurfs show after purchasing a stuffed Smurf for his daughter in the resort town of Aspen, Colorado. With new figurines released annually, more than 300 million have been sold worldwide by now.
For kids, Smurf figurines are cute small toys with special personalities and accessories, akin to Lego minifigures or Polly Pockets. For adults, they make for the perfect collectible—they’re nostalgic and can be found at a range of prices (newer figurines cost around $6, but rarer vintage ones can cost more than $200). Each Smurf is simultaneously uniform and unique.
Beyond their design, the Smurfs’ world is timeless. Taking place in a medieval wonderland, the stories and vibe resonate just as much with audiences in 2025 as they did in the 1960s. The Smurfs are jolly (even when the evil wizard Gargamel tries to sabotage them, there is always a happy ending), they live in a blissful community that values collaboration and friendship, and they speak in “Smurf,” a charming and easily mimicked dialect. “The simplicity possessed by The Smurfs is not childish, but childlike,” wrote Felix James Miller, cohost of the podcast Truth, Beauty, Comics. “They rejoice in the world that surrounds them, just as we readers are meant to do.”
Since that first Global Smurf Day in 2011, there have been many more, celebrated each year on the closest Saturday to Peyo’s birthday, June 25. Decades after their first appearance in a Belgian comic, people still dress up like Smurfs, speak in Smurf, and consume Smurf content on Global Smurf Day and every day.
What’s so special about the Smurfs? Maybe we want to be them, living in harmony in an idyllic village in the forest. Maybe the company has perfectly nailed the changing trends in media consumption and kept us hooked. Or maybe they’re just really, really cute.
—By Ava Erickson ●
Here are a selection of images from LIFE’s new special issue The Smurfs.
Cover image courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
As a child, Smurfs creator Peyo escaped the real world through theater (opposite, third from left in a production of Puss in Boots).
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
The first Smurfs, 1958.
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
The Smurfs made their debut in the 1958 comic The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. In this panel Johan and Peewit are introduced to Papa Smurf (aka le Grand Schtroumpf): “Papa Smurf, meet Johan and Peewit!” “If that’s the big Smurf, then I’m the huge Peewit!”
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
Smurf creator Peyo sketching, 1964.
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
Peyo (right) collaborated with film editor Jean Delire (left) and director Eddy Ryssack (center) for 1965’s Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs.
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
The Smurf stories take place in a timeless medieval wonderland.
Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com
Peyo with some Smurfy toys in 1984. By the 1980s, the brand had expanded into all kinds of merchandising, including theme parks, toys, and breakfast cereal.
Photo by Marc DEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Smurfs invaded the Great Wall in Beijing, China, in celebration for Global Smurfs Day 2013.
Photo by Zhang Miao/Sony Pictures Entertainment via Getty Images
Nick Offerman plays red-bearded Ken, brother up Papa Smurf, in the 2025 Smurfs movie.
Paramount Animation
Rihanna voices Smurfette in the 2025 movie “Smurfs.”
Paramount Animation
